South Carolina’s Stella by Starlight is an entertaining electropop amalgam of modern and distinctly old-school sounds, one part mixtape-from-your-dad’s-vinyl-collection and another part post-modern-hipster-songcraft. You May Also Like: Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker + Steve Hirsh – ‘Sparks’ (2022)
Sherman Ewing’s Single Room Saloon arrived with a sound that is at once intuitive and raw, but somehow well-worn and familiar, too. You May Also Like: Fernando Perdomo, progressive rocker: Something Else! Interview
Stan Kenton would have been 100 this year and, in many ways, he’s as misunderstood now as he was in his own time. You May Also Like: 14 Jazz Orchestra, Jazzrausch Bigband + Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra: Big Bands on Different Paths
When Christy Murphy’s off-kilter sensibility and spare folk-rock jangle mesh, as on the YouTube hit “Single Girl’s Love Song,” her album Feeling Good Looking Good is a merry little distraction. You May Also Like: Leviathan Drummer Gary ‘Roscoe’ Murphy: Something Else! Interview LCD Soundsystem, Aug. 5, 2016: Shows I’ll NeverRead More
Bob Margolin discusses his role in Muddy Waters’ final sessions, takes on an early side from Chuck Berry, and then disagrees on one of our favorite solo deep cuts.
Bob Margolin has spent his life around blues music’s most recognizable figures, and he’s now a respected band leader in his own right.
Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis continue a stirringly offbeat musical dialogue begun with their 2008 release Two Men with the Blues, this time focusing on the music of Ray Charles. You May Also Like: Willie Nelson Found a Worthy Foil on the Diverse, Rootsy ‘Willie and the Wheel’ Wynton MarsalisRead More
A long-awaited advance single hails the return of that odd conundrum called Death Cab for Cutie, whose spit-take name can’t begin to hint at the deep musical complexities tucked away inside. You May Also Like: Death Cab for Cutie, “Summer Skin” from ‘Plans’ (2005): One Track Mind
This is a different kind of blues record, one with a joltingly modern menace. The Third International’s Beautiful Accident brilliantly updates a time-weathered genre by focusing on texture as much as lyrical content. You May Also Like: Michael McDonald – Wide Open (2017) Michael McDonald, “Find It In Your Heart”Read More
In a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career dating back to the early 1950s, the Isley Brothers stayed on the move — transforming themselves from gospel shouters to doo-woppers to early rock ‘n’ rollers to nasty funksters to lover-man balladeers. You May Also Like: How the Isley Brothers MadeRead More
